


So Tender and Mild

by littledust



Category: Arthur Christmas (2011)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-26
Updated: 2012-12-26
Packaged: 2017-11-22 12:40:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/609904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littledust/pseuds/littledust
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur is going to be a father. He's worried.</p>
            </blockquote>





	So Tender and Mild

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pocky_slash](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pocky_slash/gifts).



> Happy Yuletide from your super anonymous author! ♥

While worry made him a great Santa, Arthur still worried that it didn't make him even a halfway decent husband, and now he had fatherhood to worry about.

And there were so many things to worry about! What if he dropped the baby? What if the baby was allergic to everything like he was and he dropped him or her into a pile of allergens? What if the baby preferred a tropical climate? What if the baby escaped one day on a polar bear? What if the baby _didn't like Christmas_?

"Now, dear," his mum said, patting him on the shoulder after listening to all that. "If your father can learn to waltz, you can certainly learn how to parent. It just takes practice, and look at all that lovely practice you've gotten through being Santa."

"Santa is an office, Mum," Arthur said, slumping forward on his elbows. He didn't even want his cocoa. Perhaps he ought to give it to Jillian with her cravings. "There's no dad suit that I can put on. Well, the suit I wear was dad's, but you know what I mean."

Mum patted him on the head this time, which was how Arthur knew he was well and truly behaving like an idiot. "Have you talked to Jillian about all this?"

"Yeah. She said the same thing. And so did Bryony."

"Mm. I wonder why."

"Dad made this sort of funny noise when I asked about fatherhood," Arthur said, warming to the subject. "Grand-Santa told me that no matter what anyone says, babies can't levitate. Steve told me to shut the door. What if I leave the door open and a polar bear gets the baby? That's good advice, I should thank him."

His mum sighed. "Why don't you run along and work on your knitting? That always makes you feel better."

Arthur took up knitting as soon as his fingers were dexterous enough to handle knitting needles. Up until then, his clothes hadn't been Christmassy enough and had contained entirely too many buttons. Ever since Jillian had told him she was pregnant, he had knitted quite a few baby blankets. He'd eased up on the strictly Christmas themes when he realized (all on his own, without either his mum or Bryony or Steve or Jillian pointing it out) that the baby was Jillian's, too, and she was a Claus by name but a Frost by birth.

Now the baby had twenty-eight snow-themed blankets. Perhaps he ought to give some to the elves, they were the right size, Arthur thought, staring at the stack of blankets in the corner of his already overstuffed office.

"I thought I'd find you here."

"Jill!" Arthur said, spinning round in his chair to face her. "Shouldn't you be resting?"

"I've had my fill of resting," she said, bending to kiss his forehead. Bending takes a bit of time for her now, what with the baby. "Besides, resting gives me too much time to worry."

"I know the fee--wait, what?"

Jillian smiled. "The baby will be here any day. You're not the only one who's scared, you know. I've never been a mum before and I want to do the best I can."

"But," Arthur said, feeling rather like one of Steve's old train sets had just shuddered to a stop inside his brain, "but you're _you_. You're brilliant and kind and good at everything."

"Even cooking?" Jillian asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Almost everything," Arthur amended. He took her hands in his, squeezing them gently. (What if he squeezed them too hard and broke the baby?) "Whatever happens, even if the baby grows up to be a--a button maker who lives in the Sahara desert, I know you'll love him or her. That's really the most important thing a mum can do."

"Or a dad," Jillian said softly, drawing him close.

Perhaps this fatherhood thing wouldn't be so scary after all.

*

EPILOGUE: On February 9, Jillian and Arthur Claus were blessed with a baby girl. Her favorite blanket, or at least the first blanket she threw up on, featured a snowman wearing a wreath, so her parents decided to call her Holly.

All three are happy.


End file.
